1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to devices for straightening wire, and more particularly to devices for removing coiling memory from wire which has been coiled on a spool.
2. Background Information
A number of wire straighteners are known in the prior art. These typically involve a bank of rollers which the wire passes through and which are oriented in one plane, followed by a second bank of rollers which act against the wire, and which are oriented in a second plane, perpendicular to the first. The typical wire straightener of the prior art has a wire guide, and specifically acts on one wire at a time. Wire straighteners of the prior art typically have a mechanism for adjusting for different wire diameters. That adjustment is by changing the spacing of the rollers for different diameters of wire. The wire straighteners of the prior art often have indicia inscribed on the wire straightener, or markings of some type to assist in adjusting the roller spacing for different wire sizes. The wire straighteners of the prior art are typically large machines which are part of an industrial process, and are not made to be easily portable or transportable to a work site. They are also not designed to insert the middle of a length of wire, but instead require the insertion of an end of the wire to be straightened.
One situation in which the prior art wire straighteners are not useful for solving a wire straightening problem is at construction sites, either industrial or commercial. Electrical wire is brought to the site wound onto spools. Depending upon the specific application, the wire can be a number of gauges, of which 8 gauge, 10 gauge, 12 gauge, and 14 gauge are typical. When such wire is taken off the spool, if it is cut and laid on the floor of the work area, the wire immediately partially coils itself up. When the wire is fed into a conduit from such a position, some of the coils of the wire may form loops and kinks which must be straightened out before being fed into a conduit.
One specific situation which is very common on a construction work site is when wire needs to be fed into the middle of a conduit run to provide a continuous, unbroken wire from one point to another. A typical situation when this might occur is when three junction boxes are connected by two sections of conduit, each of them 150 feet long. Especially in industrial situations of this sort, it is required that the entire 300 foot length of conduit be supplied by one or more unbroken wire 300 feet long. To do this, a spool of wire containing at least 300 feet is brought to the middle junction box. The free end of wire on the spool is fed into one of the 150 foot conduit runs. If the wire is fed directly into the conduit and not laid on the floor, the conduit itself contains the wire, and prevents it from reverting to the coiled configuration which is dictated by its coiling memory. Once 150 feet of wire is fed into the conduit so that it exits the conduit at one of the end junction boxes, then another 150 feet of the same wire must be fed into the other length of conduit. To do this, 150 feet of more wire is pulled off of the spool of wire, and the wire is cut. This wire cannot be fed directly into the conduit off the spool, since it first must be cut at a point 150 feet from the middle conduit. When this 150 foot length of wire is removed from the spool, since it cannot be immediately fed into a conduit, it tends to coil and form kinks. What is needed for a situation such as this is a wire straightener which is small and portable, so that it can be used on a construction site to straighten wire which comes on spools.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a wire straightener which is light weight and portable enough that it can be used on a construction job site. Another object of the invention is to provide a wire straightener in which wire can be placed in the wire straightener, or removed from the wire straightener, at the middle of a long length of wire, and not necessarily at either of its ends. Another object of the invention is to provide a wire straightener which does not require moving the position of rollers to adjust for different wire sizes, but which can accommodate different wire sizes and multiple wires being straightened at the same time. A further object of the invention is to provide a wire straightener which adjusts for different sizes of wires by changing the amount of wrap of the wire around one or more of the rollers, rather than changing the position of the rollers. A further object of the invention is to provide a wire straightener which straightens wire from spools by rollers oriented in only one plane.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description as follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.